


DC Marriage Week - DickTiger

by CanaryCry



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Grayson (Comics)
Genre: DC Marriage Week, M/M, Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-19
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-27 03:03:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5031229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanaryCry/pseuds/CanaryCry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dick and Tiger didn't expect to get married. Sometimes it's good to be wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day 1: Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1: Proposal
> 
> This one's set in roughly the same time period as my Human Connection fic, but reading that is not necessary. Dick and Tiger have to pretend to be married. Dick takes the piss.

Dick took the driver's seat in the car that been left for them near the airport. They'd barely had time to process the mission Helena had sent them on before they'd been packed onto a plane and sent away to their (temporary) new life in suburbia. Dick really wished he could be fake-married to someone else for the duration of this mission, but no one disobeyed Helena.

“So,” Dick said, clicking his seatbelt into place.

Tiger's eyes darted towards him before looking out the window again. “No.”

“You haven't heard what I'm gonna say yet.”

“Let us keep it that way.”

“I always thought getting married would be a bit more romantic than this,” Dick continued anyway, unable to keep his shit-eating grin off his face.

“Sorry,” Tiger said, not sounding sorry at all.

“Oh, that's all right. I guess it just means we'll have to do things the right way ourselves.” Dick dug into his pocket for the ring box that had originally held their (pretend) wedding rings. “We've got an hour's drive ahead of us, after all. Plenty of time.”

“I am not playing this game,” Tiger protested. “Shut up and drive.”

Dick put the key in the ignition. “Come on. It'll be fun. I promise. Well, fun for me because I have a sense of humour. You? The jury's out.”

Tiger sighed. “Get on with it.”

Dick pulled out the box, tossing it into the air and catching it. “Now, that sounds more like the guy who barged into my room and seduced me in the most terrifying way imaginable.” They had been more or less pretending that had never happened, but Dick was in a funny mood. Having to be Tiger's husband for at least a month was a terrifying and ridiculous concept. If he didn't laugh at the bizarre set of circumstances that led them to this moment, he'd probably scream.

“Do the words _get on with it_ mean nothing to you?” Tiger's face was a little flushed, and Dick had to resist the temptation to linger on the topic to see how red he could make him go.

“All right, all right. I'll put you out of your misery.” Dick lifted the box. “I'd get on my knees, but I just strapped myself in and I'm feeling lazy today. Also you'd probably think I was gonna suck you off, and we just can't have such impure thoughts desecrating our impending nuptials.”

Tiger groaned at him.

“See? It's starting already.”

“That was not a sexual groan,” Tiger grumbled.

“ _Sure_ , Tiger,” Dick said. “Anyway. This box is empty because Helena laughed at me when I suggested getting an engagement ring, but you can have the box. It's a very nice box. You can pretend there's a ring inside if you never open it. So, Tiger, will you marry me?”

Tiger rolled his eyes. “Fine. It's too late to say no anyway.”

Dick threw the box into Tiger's lap, laughing at his exasperation, and put the car into gear. They had a killer to catch, and this marriage wasn't going to fake itself. Dick still felt downright terrified of pretending to be Tiger's husband for an extended period, but at least some of the nerves had dissipated now that he'd found a way to make a joke out of it.

Dick drove the car out of the parking spot, and they were on their way.


	2. Day 2: Bachelor Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn't their bachelor party, but there would be time for some fun of their own once the job was done.

Dick supposed he should consider himself lucky their target didn't have his bachelor party in a strip club. He seemed like the type, being the son of a minor crime lord with more confidence than power.

Dick and Tiger stood by the bar for their sodas, watching their target as subtly as they could. The smarmy little bastard was currently harassing a waitress who had been waiting on him hand and foot for the past ten minutes.

“Can I hit him yet?” Tiger said. It wasn't a question; they both knew the answer.

“Not yet,” Dick said anyway. Under normal circumstances, he would've loved to have gone over there and made the man leave the poor woman alone, but he couldn't risk blowing his cover yet. He got a security guard's attention and pointed out the situation instead, not that it did much good. The kid, barely old enough to even marry, got a gentle talking-to and started pestering the waitress again as soon as the security guard turned his back.

“Remind me to give him an extra punch for her,” Tiger growled.

“I'll help,” Dick replied. The barman brought their sodas and they moved further into the crowd. They found a table close enough to the bachelor party to keep an eye on things.

“The waitress could be an ally,” Tiger said, watching her return to the bar for more drinks after getting slapped on the ass. “We could convince her to put a sedative into a drink.”

“We'll have to be careful,” Dick replied. “We can't tip him off. And we'll still have to separate him from his friends.” He searched through his pockets for the right drug. “Here we are. Give him this and he'll feel a serious urge to pee and then pass out shortly afterwards. All going well, he should make it to the bathroom first. Wait outside the bathroom, just in case he doesn't quite get there. If he has friends with him, take them out quickly and don't let them see you. I'll sweet-talk the waitress.”

Tiger rolled his eyes, because of course Dick would do that, and left to get into position. Dick intercepted the waitress next time she went to get drinks for the party.

“Hey.” Dick leaned against the bar and gave her a smile that had once been described as 'panty-dropping'.

The waitress's answering smile was visibly forced; she'd had a long night. “Hi. Did you need anything?”

“Nothing creepy, I promise,” Dick replied. “I just thought maybe we could help each other.”

The waitress's eyes narrowed a fraction, but she continued to humour him. “In what way?”

“Your favourite customer is the son of a mob boss, which I assume you already know.” Dick and the waitress looked over at him before quickly averting their gaze. “My agency has been trying to get their hands on daddy dearest for some time, but we've had no luck so far. This is the best chance we've had to get at someone from the family, but I need your help.”

Dick could see the moment the waitress decided her own personal safety overrode her professionally-mandated politeness. “Forget it. I know what happens to people who cross that family.”

“They won't even know you were involved,” Dick told her. “I promise. All I need is for you to let me have a moment with his drink. It won't kill him or be immediately obvious anything's happened. Cross my heart.”

The waitress chewed on her lip, self-preservation warring with the chance to help topple a crime family that had the area in a stranglehold. And to get revenge on the man who kept touching her while she couldn't do anything about it without risking her job and her life.

“Fine,” she said eventually. “I'm looking away for thirty seconds.” She nudged the correct drink. “I never want to see either of you again.”

“You won't,” Dick promised, quickly tipping the sedative into the target's drink. He left the waitress alone after that, making a mental note to ask Helena if someone could check on her later.

The drink delivery went off without a hitch, though the waitress copped a bit of verbal abuse for taking so long. The target downed his drink in one go and, a few minutes later, excused himself to the bathroom. No one followed.

“Target's on his way,” Dick said into his communicator.

“Acknowledged.” Then, less than a minute later: “I've got him. Get the door.”

Dick headed for the bathrooms, walking past them and to the back door generally reserved for deliveries and staff smoking breaks. “I'm there. You can come out.” Dick opened the door and Tiger came out of the men's bathroom, carrying the unconscious mob brat over his shoulder. They secured him in a van driven by another pair of agents and watched it safely depart.

“Delivery complete,” Tiger said to Helena over the comm link.

“Good work,” Helena replied.

“We had help from a waitress,” Dick told her. “Could we make sure she isn't found out for her part in this? I kinda promised she'd be safe.”

“I'll take care of it. Take the night off. You're due at the rendezvous point tomorrow evening.”

“We'll be there,” Dick said. Helena ended the call.

“We should return to the safehouse,” Tiger said.

Dick reached for his hand. “Or, we could go dancing somewhere with fewer sexist mob princes to worry about. I've never seen you dance before.”

“I do not dance.”

“You do now.” Dick tugged him down the street. “Come on. It'll be fun. And you can show me some _private_ moves later.”

“You are ridiculous,” Tiger said, but, as always, ended up going along with it. Dick had the man wrapped firmly around his finger, and it was glorious.


	3. Day 3: Same Sex Marriage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiger had no sense of occasion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weddings are hard to write and I am tired.

They had been fighting all day against what felt like the entire world. Trust them to get stuck inside some asshole billionaire's idea of fun. Apparently kidnapping people for other billionaires to hunt was big business.

“We should kill them,” Tiger said for the twentieth time that day. They were sitting in a tree, watching for more hunters.

“We should not,” Dick replied, also for the twentieth time. “I'll let you beat up the guy who put us in here. How's that sound?”

“It will do.”

Dick spotted another pair of hunters walking below them. He leapt from the tree and landed on one. From his crouched position, he tilted and kicked the other in the face. It was almost too easy.

Tiger dropped to the ground beside him. “Marry me.”

“That was hardly my best move, T. At least pick something cooler to inspire a propsal.”

“The world is in chaos,” Tiger said. “This adventure is the most normal thing we have done all week.”

That was true. They'd been flushed from three safehouses already this week, one of them with fire. Tiger had been distinctly unimpressed by that particular turn of events.

Dick tied their would-be killers to the tree. “Ask me later. Let's get out of here first.”

They found another tree and took down several more hunters. One of them even cried like the spoiled brat he was. Tiger terrified one of them into giving up their base camp's location. From there, it was a simple task to locate the owner of this whole setup.

The man's office was, rather tastelessly, decorated with a slew of mounted animal heads. His desk was heavy oak, and Tiger flipped it with one foot to trap its owner beneath it.

“Call off the hunt,” he growled.

“I'd do as he says,” Dick added. “He's been begging to let him kill someone all day.”

The owner pushed weakly at the desk crushing his legs. “P-please—”

Tiger pressed a foot onto the desk, driving it deeper into the man's bones. “Call. It. Off.”

“Fine. Fine!” The man fumbled for the landline phone that had been thrown to the floor.

“Do not try anything,” Tiger warned as Dick slid it closer to him.

The man pressed a button. “This is Phil. The hunt's over. Everyone go home.”

Dick hung up the phone before he got any ideas. “Thank you very much,” he said sweetly.

“Now let me out!”

“No,” Tiger said, and he and Dick left him there.

* * *

“I meant what I said earlier,” Tiger said later, as they lay together in their most recent safehouse, sweat still slowly drying on their bodies.

“You said a lot of things today,” Dick replied, stretching out until his back arched off the bed and something cracked in his spine. “Mostly about wanting to kill people.”

Tiger leaned over to the nightstand and dug through the drawer. “Not that. This.” He dropped a little black box on Dick's bare stomach.

Dick ran a finger over the felt. “This looks familiar.”

“I kept it,” Tiger said, looking up at the ceiling instead of him. “And its contents.”

“Well, I guess that saves us a trip.”

Tiger's eyes flicked to him. “You mean—?”

Dick grinned up at him. “Ask me.”

Tiger plucked the box off Dick. “Okay. Dick Grayson—”

“If you call me an idiot again, I'm outta here.”

“Shh. Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” Dick said. Tiger's eyes lit up and, honestly, this whole day was worth it just for that.

“We can do it in the morning,” he said.

“Alfred will destroy us if he's not there.”

“I know you want your family with you.” Tiger pressed the box into Dick's hand. “We can celebrate with them later. If we wait, we might not be alive to do it.”

Dick thought back to the fire that took out their last safehouse. They hadn't been inside at the time, which was fortunate since the building wasn't exactly up to code. If they had been sleeping like any other reasonable person would've been at that hour, they could have died. They were being chased by someone they had yet to identify, and their position was precarious.

“All right,” he agreed. The words were barely out of his mouth before he had a lapful of Tiger and kisses all along his neck.

* * *

They were only a short drive from Vegas, which made this whole suddenly getting married thing a whole lot easier. Where better to blend into the crowd than a city notorious for no-frills last-minute weddings?

Tiger thought all the neon signs were tacky. Dick was still too caught up in the ridiculousness of their situation that it didn't much matter to him. He'd had a short phone conversation with Bruce the previous night about the whole thing.

“ _I can't talk long,” Dick said._

“ _You're still being tailed,” Bruce surmised._

“ _Yeah, legally resurrecting me probably wasn't a good idea.” Dick watched Tiger twitch in his sleep and stroked his face until he settled down again. “Now everyone wants a piece of me. Flattering, but I'm taken. Very taken.”_

“Very taken _, you say?”_

“ _Tiger proposed,” Dick told Bruce. “We're going to elope tomorrow. I know it's not ideal and Alfred is never going to let me hear the end of it, but in our current situation it didn't seem wise to put it off.”_

_Bruce was silent._

“ _You're mad at me, aren't you?”_

“ _I'm trying not to be.”_

“ _We can do something later with the whole family,” Dick assured him. “You know, once we've dealt with the people trying to kill us. They burned our last place down. Joke's on them, though. We weren't even in the building.”_

“ _You were lucky,” Bruce said seriously. “I'll have Clark find you tomorrow. He'll keep you both safe until you can get back to Gotham. Did you want to break the news to Alfred, or shall I?”_

“ _I'd prefer to tell him myself, but unless he's around right now, it's probably better that you do it. I don't want him feeling left out of the loop.”_

“ _I'll take care of it. Be safe.”_

“ _You too.”_

“ _And, Dick? Congratulations.”_

“ _Thanks, B. Goodnight.”_

“ _Goodnight.”_

Dick and Tiger had managed to get an appointment at the county clerk's office. They'd just parked the car when, as promised, Clark found them.

“Great timing,” Dick said. “Wanna be our witness?”

“Bruce told me you were getting married,” Clark said, pulling Dick into a quick hug. “I'd be honoured. You hurt Alfred's feelings, by the way.”

“I know. I'll make it up to him.”

“Ooh, you better.” Clark turned to Tiger. “I don't think we've met. Bruce said your name was Tiger?”

“Yes,” Tiger replied. It wasn't the name on his legal documentation Bruce had helped him fake, but that was more of a formality anyway. Some things were not possible to do without having some kind of legal existence, such as getting married. Dick knew Tiger preferred to live under the radar, so they'd made his file as sparse as they could get away with. He often forgot to carry his identification with him, since he was so used to not having any. Dick had made sure he had it today, since they needed it to get their license.

Dick mostly handled getting the marriage license, except in cases where Tiger had to sign things. It was a fairly slow day at the office.

“You know,” said Dick, as they waited for their appointment time for the ceremony, “we could still go find a chapel that has Elvis impersonators as celebrants. Get the real Vegas experience.”

Tiger looked at him. “No.”

“What would you have said if I was serious?”

“The same thing.”

“Are you sure?”

Tiger sighed. “No. I'm not.”

The conversation was cut short when a crowd of people walked through the front doors. People Dick knew, and had not expected to be here.

“Go ahead, be a little less subtle,” he said to his family, though he couldn't stop grinning. “How'd you even get here in time?”

“We used the zeta tubes,” Jason replied. “Tim's been whining about misusing the tech for personal gain, but no one listens to him anyway.”

“It's okay, Timmy. I listen.”

“Thanks,” Tim replied. “Nice to know someone cares.”

Damian snorted.

Barbara nudged Bruce aside, smirking down at Dick where he sat in a chair against the wall. “Aren't you meant to be setting an example for your younger brothers, Dick?”

“I think that ship sailed a long time ago, Barb. Besides, we've all done worse things than organise a last-minute marriage ceremony.”

Alfred raised an eyebrow. “I was rather hurt, Master Dick.”

“Okay, I take that back. This is definitely the worst thing I've ever done.”

“That is true,” said Cassandra. Stephanie apparently found that hilarious.

“How'd you even know we were here?” Dick asked them all.

“That's my fault,” Clark replied. “I let them know as soon as I found you.”

“Naturally.”

Jason pulled up a seat next to Tiger. “So, you're making an honest man out of our Dickiebird?” The nickname was painfully sarcastic and Dick had to fight the urge to punch him. It was probably fortunate the whole family had met Tiger before, so at least they didn't have that extra worry on top of things. Bruce still didn't like him much, but that wasn't a surprise. While Bruce was willing to give second chances, he could be a hard man to win over.

“I... suppose.” Tiger was still awkward has hell with the family, except for maybe Damian. They'd gotten along really well as soon as Damian passed his _YOU LET A SPY INTO THE HOUSE_ phase. Dick couldn't blame Tiger for the weirdness, to be honest. His family wasn't exactly easy to deal with even when you were used to them. And Jason was a professional shit-stirrer at the best of times.

“Be nice,” Dick told Jason. “We nearly got set on a fire last week. And since then we got conked on the head and turned into human prey for some billionaire's hunting ground. It was more fun for us than them in the end, but the point still stands.”

“Kill anyone?”

“Dick didn't let me.”

“Dick's a buzz-kill.”

Tiger chuckled a tiny bit. “It worked out. He let me flip a desk onto the owner.”

“We left him pinned there once we'd gotten him to call off the hunt,” Dick added. “It was pretty great. Oh, and Tiger tried proposing to me after I kicked someone in the face. It wasn't even that great a kick, because apparently _someone's_ easily impressed.”

“It was on my mind,” Tiger replied.

“Anyway, we took a raincheck and dealt with that once we'd gotten the desk-flipping done.”

They were ushered into a little wedding chamber afterwards, with a much larger crowd than anticipated. Dick didn't pay much attention to the vows, because Tiger's gaze on him was the most knee-weakeningly intense thing he had ever experienced. He probably would've fallen over if they hadn't been holding hands. At least half the family would've laughed at him.

He only woke up for the ring exchange, jumping a little bit and hoping no one noticed. He'd held onto the ring box since Tiger proposed, so he fished it out of his pocket and they continued.

Tiger slid the ring onto Dick's finger, still staring at him in that way which either meant _I want to kill you_ or _I want to fuck you_. It seemed there was a third option these days: _I want to spend the rest of my life with you_.

Dick's hands shook as he took his turn putting the ring on Tiger, who ran his fingers over Dick's knuckles as soon as he was finished. That helped take the shakes away.

“You may now kiss each other,” said the celebrant. Finally.

And _what a kiss it was_. Tiger was on him in seconds, devouring him. He could've sucked Dick's soul right out of his body and he wouldn't have cared one bit. Dick definitely would've fallen over if Tiger hadn't been holding him so tightly. He heard his family applauding like he was underwater, audible but muffled.

Dick and Tiger had been together for over a year now. They'd weathered a veritable mountain of bullshit in that time but, somehow, against all odds, they were still together. And now they were married.

Dick burned Tiger's smile into his memory. He never wanted to forget this day. Tiger's stare, his smile, his kiss. He'd treasure it all forever.

The fact his family had been here to witness this was just icing on the cake.


	4. Day 4: Wedding (Night)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick's family comes together to make sure he and Tiger get the wedding night they deserve, free from all the assholes chasing after them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALL THE SEX. And lots of gooey, heart-warming moments. So fucking NSFW I would be ashamed of myself if I were capable of such a thing.

“Trust us,” Clark said what felt like the thousandth time. “You deserve the night off. We'll keep you safe.”

“Have you forgotten they tried to set us on _fire_?” Dick replied. Tiger's hand found the small of his back, which helped him calm down a little.

“We have a plan,” Tim assured him.

“Check into this hotel,” Bruce said, handing Dick a piece of paper with an address on it. “We'll smuggle you out and set up surveillance in your room instead.”

“And where precisely are you taking us?”

“You'll find out,” said Jason. “Relax. You won't die. Probably.”

“That's real comforting, Jay.”

Bruce sighed. “Get in your car. We'll join you after dark. Clark will listen in and tell us which room you take.”

“Tim and I will encrypt our communications,” Barbara said. “We can bury it in all the other phone traffic. They won't even notice it's there.”

“Good idea,” Dick replied. “Try to keep the boys in line. If you can.”

“I'll try. Get going.”

Dick and Tiger left the county clerk's office and found their car. It was a sad, beaten-up little thing that was constantly at death's door. If they continued striking out on their own, it would need to be replaced before it died.

They drove to the hotel. Bruce had picked fairly well. It wasn't too fancy, but it also wasn't a hole in the ground. It would work for a low-budget honeymoon for a couple who didn't want to wake up with bedbugs all over them.

The woman on the desk took their cash and passed them a key before returning to her magazine. Dick and Tiger headed for the room, Dick quietly saying the room number out loud for Clark's benefit. They had a few hours until sundown. The odds of being attacked in broad daylight were fairly slim, but Dick made sure to keep all the curtains drawn and entrances locked anyway. It wouldn't stop his family from entering, and it would probably give them a few seconds notice if someone did decide to invade.

Tiger pinned Dick to the bed and fucked him into the mattress. Dick tried to be quiet for Clark's sake, because there was no way the man wasn't listening to make sure they were safe, but he'd never been good at holding back with Tiger tearing him to pieces.

Tiger knew exactly what he was trying to do, and apparently he found it hilarious, laughing with each thrust he made.

Dick smacked his shoulder. “Ngh. Asshole.”

“I believe that is your job,” Tiger replied, digging his fingers into Dick's hips and dragging him closer.

Dick's breaths were shallow. “Heh. Funny.”

“I try.” Tiger pressed his lips to Dick's jugular. He twisted his hips just so, knowing exactly what it took to break Dick into tiny little pieces. Dick gasped and wrapped his legs tighter around Tiger's waist.

“Deeper,” he begged. “I need—”

Tiger thrust deeper, turning the rest of Dick's sentence into a long moan. It was hot in here. It had been hot before they'd started and now it was downright sweltering. Tiger's fingers slipped in the sweat on Dick's hips so he wrapped his arms around his waist instead, pressing so close that Dick's cock rubbed against both of their stomachs.

Dick was so close now, whispering and moaning broken sentences full of unfinished thoughts. Tiger kissed all over his face and shifted, his knees bracketing Dick's hips. Dick climbed into his lap, gripping him tightly, grinding down against him. He came, biting into Tiger's shoulder, which didn't quite muffle his scream. Tiger's climax was quieter, more breath than noise. He rubbed circles into Dick's back as they rocked gently together in the aftermath.

Dick closed his eyes, resting against Tiger's shoulder. “I love you,” he breathed. “Forever and ever and ever.”

Tiger laughed, a little breathlessly. “I love you, too.”

“You're my husband.” Dick tried the word out on his tongue. It was strange, unexpected, but he liked it.

“And you're _my_ husband.”

Neither of them wanted to move. So they stayed there a while, until sundown was coming close. They showered quickly and found Damian-as-Robin had arrived via the window during that time. Dick read quietly on the bed while the two of them prayed together.

Batman arrived shortly afterwards, followed by Red Robin and the Red Hood. Red Robin was in his old cowled costume for some reason.

“'Evening, gentlemen,” Dick said, replacing the bookmark in his novel and setting it aside.

“The others are stationed throughout the city,” Batman said, getting right down to business.

“And now you get to dress up as us,” said Tim.

“Just like you've always wanted,” Jason added. “So, Tiger...” He threw a duffel bag at him. “Live the dream.”

“I take it there's a reason you've gone retro, Timmy,” Dick said while Tiger retreated to the bathroom to change.

“There's no way you'd pass as me any other way,” Red Robin replied, passing him a second bag.

“Not my fault you're so short.”

He pulled his cowl off so Dick could watch him roll his eyes. “Shut up.”

Dick got changed there. It wasn't like anyone in the room hadn't seen him do it before. “So I take it you two are staying here while T and head for the safehouse?”

“The kid's staying with us,” the Red Hood added. “But yeah, basically.”

“Black Bat will guard the safehouse,” Batman said.

“But will kindly be giving you two some privacy,” said the Red Hood. “Since this is the only honeymoon you're gonna get.”

“I'm thrilled,” Dick said dryly, fumbling with all the clasps on the uniform until the real Red Robin took pity on him and stepped forward to help him out.

“Not as thrilled as I am at helping you get laid tonight,” the Red Hood replied in the exact same tone of voice. Damian made a face.

“Let's not make Robin vomit, guys,” Red Robin said, adjusting the straps on Dick's chest. “There we go. I think you can handle the cape and cowl by yourself.”

“I'll try.”

Tiger emerged from the bathroom in costume, domino mask on and Jason's spare red helmet under his arm. He and Jason were of a similar size and build, Dick noticed, so the costume fit well.

“Be still my beating heart,” said the Red Hood, and Dick was struck, not for the first time, with just how Not Straight his brother was. He was fairly certain there was not a single heterosexual in this family, though the jury was still out on Alfred.

“I'm flattered,” Tiger replied, deadpan.

“Seriously, though, if you're ever looking for a change of pace, I could always use a patrol partner.”

“What about me?” said Red Robin.

“Sorry, kid. You just got demoted. Maybe if you were cuter...”

Dick snorted. “He's mine, Jay. But you can borrow him.”

Batman's exasperation was palpable. “Enough. We need to go.”

Tiger put the helmet on. Dick could tell the two Red Hoods apart, mostly because he knew both of them so well, but to anyone else, they would be virtually indistinguishable. Dick and Tim weren't quite so lucky in that department, but Dick could pass as him from a distance. That would have to do.

They climbed out the window with Batman, leaving the others in the hotel room. Neither Dick nor Tiger said a word until they'd climbed into the batmobile.

“How'd you get this thing over here so fast?” Dick asked.

“Modified zeta beam,” Batman replied, pulling out of the back alley he'd parked in.

“Of course. Couldn't have Batman without his car, could we?”

“Exactly.”

Tiger was pretty quiet, which Dick assumed was because he and Bruce could barely tolerate each other at the best of times. They were polite in Dick's presence, but that was about it.

Dick breathed out his relief when they finally reached the safehouse and he could escape that car and the tense silence Tiger and Batman had cultivated. Cassandra was waiting for them on the ceiling, fully dressed as Black Bat. Stephanie, as Spoiler, was on the floor.

“Superman's in the air again,” Steph told Batman. “He's got his ears pricked for any suspicious newbies in town. And Barbara's already out on the rooftops.” Dick was kind of grateful she wasn't here. She'd been a good sport about the wedding, but since it was the general consensus he and Tiger were having sex tonight, it would've just been too weird to see her right now.

“Good,” said Batman. “Dick, Tiger, let us take care of this. It's your wedding night. Black Bat, get these two inside. Spoiler, with me.”

Dick tried really hard to pretend Batman had not just given him and Tiger permission to have sex with each other. He did not need that shit in his life. Jason had been bad enough. He did, however, wonder how much had been explained to Cass. Hopefully enough to give them privacy but not enough for her to know what they were probably going to do if they ever got over this goddamn mortification.

Cass led them further into the building and Batman and Spoiler left in the car. “Batman told me to leave you two alone.” She pointed to a metal door. “Your room. It has a secret exit. In case they attack. Steph said I should tell you it is...” She visibly searched for the word, “soundproofed.”

“Good to know,” Tiger said, making a valiant effort to not sound embarrassed.

Dick hugged her. “Thanks, Cass. I hope we didn't screw up your plans too badly.”

“What plans?”

“That's the spirit.”

“Funny.” Cass was getting damn gifted in the art of sarcasm, and Dick loved it. This family was fluent in sarcasm and often used it to communicate instead of normal English.

“I know. Thank you.”

Cass shoved him and left them to guard the safehouse. Dick and Tiger headed into the metal-doored room, locking themselves in.

And Dick was so fucking glad Jason's piss-taking didn't extend to this room, because Dick would have lost his shit if he'd encountered something like rose petals or candles or, heaven forbid, _mood lighting_. Instead, it was a normal bedroom with a normal double bed and furniture and an en suite. Dick found the trap door in the corner hidden under the carpet. Any spy worth their salt would find it, but the concealment would give them a few extra seconds before it was discovered. Sometimes matters of life and death came down to such small numbers.

There was a walkie-talkie on the nightstand, set to automatically receive. Dick assumed Cass had the other one, and Bruce probably had a third. They might've given one to Jason or Tim as well. If Dick thought of it, Bruce probably had, too.

A pair of dining chairs sat with a table in the corner, which held a covered plate. Dick hadn't realised how hungry he was until in that moment.

“Hungry?” asked Tiger, looking down at him with the kind of amusement Dick still couldn't believe he inspired in the man.

“Famished. You?”

“The same.”

The sat down to eat, shedding pieces of their costume. Whoever had handled the food—probably Alfred—had gone for a vegetarian option, which was probably easier on short notice in a city that was potentially full of enemies. Pasta was always a winning idea, and now was no different. It was a basic creamy napolitana sauce with some garlic bread on the side, but it hit the spot and was easily the best food the pair of them had eaten in weeks. There wasn't much time for fancy eating when you were faced with potential enemies at every turn.

“I have to confess something,” Tiger said, breaking a slice of bread from a second and passing that one to Dick. “I married you for Alfred's cooking.”

“I don't blame you,” Dick replied. “As pretty as I am, I just can't compare.”

“Second best isn't bad when Alfred's cooking comes first,” Tiger consoled, stabbing a mouthful of penne onto his fork.

“I'll take it.” The humour came easily tonight. Dick almost felt like he was back home. Even though there were potentially dangerous assassins stalking the city outside, he felt happy and safe in this room. He trusted his family to protect them and the civilians. It was hard to feel worried about anything right now.

Dick and Tiger were content to eat and chat for now, feet nudging together under the table. When the food was gone, they cuddled on the bed in their underwear, still chatting away. It was nice to be free to talk about whatever they wanted. Most days their conversations had been relegated to practical concerns or, when they had time, dirty talk. Dick didn't mind the latter, but having some variety was nice.

“Who do you think would win: Superman or Wonder Woman?” Dick asked Tiger, curled up with his head on the other man's chest.

“Wonder Woman has martial training,” Tiger replied. “She was raised by a society of warriors. Superman was raised on a farm, was he not? He knows how to use his abilities, but he does not have her technique.”

“Good point.”

“My turn.” Tiger combed his fingers through Dick's hair, working out the knots Dick had forgotten to deal with earlier. “Batman or Black Canary?”

“Ooh. That's a hard one.” Dick kissed Tiger's chest, laughing when his husband flexed his pecs a few times. “Batman always says Black Canary is the superior martial artist, and she has the canary cry at her disposal. Batman's probably got a way to counteract that, though, so he'd be able to take advantage of her brief confusion if he had time to prepare. If not, Black Canary would likely win. A lot of it's up to chance, though, considering they're both damn good at what they do. A lot of factors to consider, like location, time of day, injuries...” He trailed off as Tiger kissed him.

“I love watching you think,” he growled, and that sound went straight to Dick's groin.

Tiger slid his hands down the back of Dick's briefs. “Hands and knees,” he ordered.

“Yes, sir,” Dick said, letting Tiger pull his underwear off. Tiger dumped it somewhere on the floor and Dick got on his hands and knees as requested. Shortly thereafter, Tiger's hands found his ass again and Dick felt the man's tongue slip inside him. Dick gripped the headboard, bowing his head against the wave of sensation radiating through his body. His cock quickly stiffened and Dick brought one of his hands free to touch himself.

A slick finger joined Tiger's tongue and Dick had to let go of himself before he came too soon. He buried his face in the pillow, squirming for Tiger to push deeper into him.

“Patience,” Tiger said, and sucked a hickey into his right cheek.

Dick huffed out a laugh. “ _Really_ , T?”

Tiger laughed against his skin.

“Oh, go ahead. Who needs to sit anyway?”

Tiger added a second finger inside him, teeth and lips still working on that hickey. Dick sighed into his pillow, letting himself relax under Tiger's attentions.

“You know what I need?” he said after a while as Tiger slid in a third finger.

“A ball gag?” Tiger replied.

“Heh. Kinky.”

“It could be arranged.”

“Maybe another time.” Dick pushed his ass back to take Tiger's fingers as deep as they could go. “I was thinking more along the lines of your penis in me.”

“All in due time.”

Dick pillowed his head on his forearms. “As long as that means sooner rather than later because I am not going to last much longer here.”

Tiger kissed along the small of his back. “In a fast mood tonight?”

“For this round, sure.” There would be time for tenderness later, but right now Dick just really wanted to get fucked already. “We can break out the rose petals and mood lighting later.”

Tiger chose not to comment on that. Probably just as well. Dick perked up when he heard the familiar crinkling of a wrapper. Tiger was barely inside him before he started moaning. This was exactly what he needed.

“Mm.” Dick grinned against his forearms. “Go hard, babe. Fuck me until I forget where the hell we are.”

“Your wish is my command.” Tiger pushed all the way inside, not bothering to wait for Dick to adjust. They'd only fucked a short time ago and Dick was _ready_. Dick quickly grabbed the headboard again for leverage, but only after he accidentally hit his head on the damn thing.

“Shit.” Tiger stopped moving. “Are you okay?”

Dick rubbed his head until it stopped hurting. “Yeah. All good.” He got a good grip on the headboard. “Keep going.”

Tiger leaned forward to kiss him, the corresponding motion of his cock making Dick moan into his mouth. Tiger smiled into the kiss, and nipped Dick's lip for good measure. Dick bent backwards to let Tiger straighten up a little, still kissing, stretching his arms out against the headboard, to give his husband a little more room to move inside him.

“Showoff,” Tiger muttered against his lips.

“You love it,” Dick replied. He had to lean forward again when Tiger fucked him faster. Dick was strong and almost inhumanly flexible, but some positions were difficult for even him to hold when someone was ploughing into him like that.

The smack of skin against skin was gorgeously obscene, and even with Dick's head hanging between his arms, the mental image of what the sound meant Tiger was doing to him really helped push him closer to the brink. Tiger's fingers flexed on Dick's hips each time he pulled him back to deepen his thrust, and that really did it for him, too. Everything about Tiger—the way his beard scratched against Dick's skin, the way his voice growled as he whispered the filthiest things he could think up—was pushing him closer and closer to coming.

Tiger came first, hips stuttering, and rolled Dick over to swallow down his cock in one go, fingers sliding back inside him. Dick came in his mouth in seconds, grasping tufts of his hair in ecstasy. Tiger sucked every last drop out of him, finally leaning back to wipe his lips clean.

Dick remained splayed out beneath him, heart racing and limbs turning to jelly. Tiger pressed little butterfly kisses on his softening cock, his abdomen, his chest, his throat, jaw, cheek, lips. Dick melted into his arms. His whole body felt like honey.

They kissed slowly, Tiger lying gently on top of him. Dick regained the use of his legs and tangled them with Tiger's. There hadn't been a peep from the walkie-talkie this whole time, but all the signals were still active—Dick could tell at a glance. He had to believe everything was fine, and he did. As unexpected as this whole situation had been, he was glad his family had found him. There was no way they would've felt this safe otherwise.

Dick kissed Tiger's nose. “Best husband.”

Tiger grinned, his eyes brightening at the word. “I know.”

This was new for both of them, but it was incredible. How did people get used to this? How did they not want to jump with joy every time they heard the word? Every time they were reminded they had promised to spend the rest of their lives with the person they loved?

Tiger cupped his cheek and Dick closed his eyes, leaning into his hand. This was perfect. Tiger was warm and gentle and Dick couldn't remember the last time he'd been this happy. Dick squeezed his husband—his _husband—_ in his arms and never wanted to let go. Tiger squeezed him back just as tightly.

Tiger rested his head beside Dick's. Their breaths fell into the same rhythm. This was the stillest they'd ever been while awake, Dick realised. There had always been something to do, someone to fight. Or escape. It was hectic. But this wasn't. This was two people in love just lying together, enjoying each other's existence.

Their arousal soon returned, but they didn't quite shake off this closeness. Tiger kissed him lazily as his fingers did their magic inside him. Dick's hands were busy, too, stroking Tiger's scarred, fuzzy skin, knotting in his hair, pulling him closer.

The lovemaking that followed was slow, languid, full of soft kisses and bright smiles. Tiger's thumb brushed along Dick's cheek, such a small gesture, but it meant everything. Dick caught his hand before it moved away and brought it to his lips, kissing it until Tiger shifted position and distracted him.

These days, their sex was usually rushed and focused on the end goal of the climax. They just didn't have time to linger when the wolves were at their door. Half the time they had used it as stress relief rather than for intimacy. Dick hated that, and he'd tried to find the scraps of connection when he could. Tiger could always tell those times, and put a little more effort into making Dick feel loved, but it had been difficult to change things when their situation was still so precarious.

But, right now, Dick didn't care if he came or not. Every look, every touch, every movement filled his heart. It didn't matter how this ended now. He was content. He loved Tiger, and was loved in return.

Normally, Tiger was the king of dirty talk. But, this time, he whispered endearments and sappy promises into Dick's ear. It had the same effect on him, bringing him to the edge.

His climax was small, as was Tiger's, but it left him more satisfied than anything else they'd done all day. They lay there a while longer, kissing and swapping ridiculous petnames, until they headed to the bathroom to clean up. They spent longer than planned in the shower, touching each other until they had each shuddered out yet another barely-there orgasm.

Dick fell into bed afterwards, not bothering to dress. Tiger threw on some clothes and said his final prayer of the evening, before throwing them off and joining Dick to cuddle under the covers.

“Best day,” Dick said tiredly, hand resting over his new husband's heart.

Tiger stroked his hair. “It was.”

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”

Dick snickered into Tiger's chest. “'Love you most.”

The walkie-talkie on the nightstand crackled to life. “This is Batman. The threat is eliminated. Acknowledge?”

Dick reached over to grab it. “Acknowledged, Batman. Thank you so much.”

“You're welcome,” Batman replied warmly. “Get some rest. We'll talk in the morning.”

“Okay. Goodnight, B.”

“Goodnight, son.”

Dick set the walkie-talkie aside and crawled back into Tiger's waiting arms. That final weight had finally been lifted. They were both exhausted, but not quite ready for sleep yet. Kisses soon turned to touches and touches turned to undoing all the washing up they'd just done.

Dick straddled Tiger's hips, rocking gently over him, his grin stretching wider and wider as an endless stream of affection slipped past Tiger's lips between the kisses they took turns initiating. As tired as they were, neither lasted long, but that was okay. They'd had a great run today. And there were more days ahead of them. An endless stream of days and nights when they knew they would both still be there in the morning.

As they both shuddered through one last orgasm, they grasped each other's hands and laughed, out of breath as they were. It was the greatest sound in the world.

Dick was married to the man he loved, surrounded by his family. They were safe. They were happy. That was everything he could ask for, and both he and Tiger slept peacefully that night, knowing everything was going to be okay.


	5. Day 5: BABIES

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick and Tiger hadn't exactly planned for kids, but sometimes you just had to step up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for the discussion of rape. None of it is against any of the main characters. Also some canon-typical violence.

Dick had been supremely nervous about returning to Gotham, almost as nervous as he had been about getting legally resurrected. He could pass by unnoticed in most cities, but Gotham was where he grew up, where he was most famous. And he knew a reporter had gotten their hands on his and Tiger's marriage certificate and made a big deal out of it. The publicity was primarily on his side, but any publicity was bad publicity when your identity had been revealed to the world and you still potentially had assassins dogging you.

Dick spent a lot of time on the rooftops, reacquainting himself with the city. Tiger joined him most nights. The both wore hoods and nondescript black clothing, only showing themselves when necessary. It would be too easy for a reporter to connect the dots to Dick's return to Gotham with his husband in tow.

Tonight had been quiet. The rest of the family was patrolling throughout the city, leaving Dick and Tiger with little to do.

“You're getting pretty good with the grapple line,” Dick said to Tiger as they both landed on a rooftop overlooking a dimly-lit alleyway.

“It's simple enough,” Tiger replied. “I used similar technology in Spyral. This is better made.”

“I'll be sure to tell the big guy. He gets a kick out of out-engineering his enemies. Not that he'd ever admit to being—”

There was a sound somewhere below. Some kind of wailing. Dick scanned the alley and couldn't see anyone, but that didn't mean anything in this town.

“Cover me,” he whispered and flipped to the ground. The wailing grew louder, yet it was still slightly muffled. He followed the sound further into the alley, towards the dumpster. Dick had heard babies cry before. The implications of what it could mean here of all places did not sit well with him.

He checked behind the dumpster, finding nothing, and that left only one place to look. He lifted the dumpster lid. The baby was wrapped in a filthy blanket, its face red and scrunched from crying.

“Oh my God.” Dick hopped inside, careful to land beside it. “T. Get down here.”

A thud. “What is it?”

Dick, grateful for his gloves, held his breath and plunged his hands into the trash until he got them under the baby and lifted it into his arms. “Give me a hand.” He passed the baby to Tiger, who jumped a little, and Dick lifted himself out and back onto solid ground. He activated his communicator. “Batman, we've got an abandoned newborn.”

“I'll send the car. Vitals?”

Dick disinfected his gloves and checked for a pulse. “Not too bad, all things considered. Poor thing's screaming its head off, as I'm sure you can hear.”

“I'll have Alfred prepare the appropriate pain medication. Car's on its way. Get back to the cave. The police department and the hospitals are overworked tonight.”

“Gotcha. I'll keep you posted.”

“Good. Batman out.” The connection closed.

“Take it,” Tiger said, holding the baby out to Dick, who took it back.

“I wouldn't have pegged you as being scared of kids, T.” Dick cuddled the baby close to his chest, wrinkling his nose against the sickly sweet smell of rotting trash. The beanie on the baby's head was pink, probably hospital-standard. The baby quieted a little under Dick's care.

Tiger shrugged. “I'm not used to them.”

The batmobile roared to a stop at the mouth of the alley. Dick and Tiger hurried to get in. Batman had fitted the rear-facing baby seat in the back.

“Get behind the wheel,” Dick said. “I'll keep an eye on the little one. I'll set the autopilot.”

The strapped themselves in. Dick tossed the dirty blanket aside and replaced it with a clean one folded on the seat.

“Autopilot: home,” he said, and the car pulled away from the curb of its own volition. “I don't think the baby was there for long. Temperature seems normal. Alfred will know more.”

They were out of the car the instant it parked in the cave. Dick gave Batman the go-ahead to take it back, and it roared its way out again.

Alfred emerged from the med bay. “Allow me, sir.” He took the baby from Dick's arms and carried it back the way he'd come. “Go wash up. I will have news shortly.”

Dick and Tiger took a quick shower and changed back into civvies. Alfred had already finished his examination by then and was feeding the baby with a bottle. He'd also replaced the dirty clothes with clean ones.

“She's in good health, all things considered,” he told them. “We'll have to keep an eye on her in case she falls ill from the conditions she was left in. I have updated Batman. He's on his way.”

“Definitely a girl, then?” Dick asked.

“There are no definites in assigning sex to an infant, sir,” Alfred replied. “Until she is old enough to say otherwise, we simply assume.”

“Right. Of course.”

Alfred set the bottle aside. “Would you care to burp her, sir? If you remember how.”

“I remember.” Dick grabbed a towel and slung it over his shoulder before accepting the baby from Alfred. Some babies vomited a lot, and he had no idea how strong this one's stomach was yet.

Alfred headed for the batcomputer, talking to Bruce on his communicator. Dick rested the baby on his shoulder and patted her back. Tiger was looking at him strangely.

“See anything you like?” Dick teased.

Tiger rolled his eyes. “It's strange.”

“What? Seeing me take care of a small, helpless creature? I got plenty of practise with you.”

“If that were all there was to it, I'd be better at it,” Tiger replied. “How many times have you needed my attention, after all?”

“We're both helpless babies,” Dick compromised. The baby grumbled a little against his shoulder and Dick bounced her a little. “There, there, sweetheart. We'll get to the bottom of this.”

Bruce returned in the batmobile, cowl already flung off his head. He marched over to the batcomputer and took over for Alfred. Dick and Tiger joined him.

“Do we know whose kid this is yet?” Dick asked.

“Not yet.” Bruce brought up the week's hospital records for the entire city. “We're looking at a recent birth.” He eliminated a few entries. “I'm filtering out any children still in the hospital. And all males. We have a few discharges not approved by the medical staff. I'll look at those first. Hm. We can dismiss that one.” He swiped an entry away. “That couple's been parading their baby around high society all week.” He brought up another file. Missing persons reports.

“Those are more high-risk,” Dick said, as the baby finally burped. He felt warmth on his shoulder at the same time. “T, could you get a fresh towel?” He wiped spit-up from the baby's chin while Tiger headed back to the med bay.

“This might not get us anywhere,” Bruce warned, searching through the data.

“Ah, a good old-fashioned stab in the dark,” Dick said. Tiger returned with a towel and helped him swap it over. “Thanks, babe.” Alfred took the soiled towel from them.

“There's only one report that corresponds with a recent birth,” Bruce said, bringing up a young woman's file. “Laila Karzai.”

The name run a bell. Tiger frowned at it, but Dick didn't get a chance to question him before Bruce was talking again.

“I'll send someone to search her home. If she's not the mother, there could be another child in danger. She's a priority regardless of situation.” He pressed his communicator and directed Red Robin to take a look.

“Karzai,” Tiger said quietly. “Like the president. She's from Karz, in Kandahar. Or descended from someone who was.” So that's where Dick had heard the name before. The former Afghan president. Most of the batfamily tended to keep up-to-date on politics, regardless of nation.

“Do you think there's any relation?”

“Probably not.”

“You okay?”

Tiger nodded, stroking the baby's cheek with a finger. “It's just... close to home. That's all.”

“We'll figure something out,” Dick promise. “I can't promise we'll find her, but, no matter what happens, we'll make sure this kid is taken care of. Hey, B, do we know the name of Laila's kid?”

“No,” Bruce replied. “There's nothing on record. I _have_ found a police report filed by her roughly nine months ago.”

Dick winced. “Is that as bad as it sounds?”

“Yes.”

“Shit. Poor girl. Did they figure out who did it?”

“They had suspects, but the investigation got buried under other cases.”

“Naturally,” Dick muttered.

“I'll speak with Gordon.” Bruce put his cowl back on. “You two work with Alfred to keep the baby healthy. I'll work on eliminating the other potential parents from the list and update you on Laila's situation as soon as I know more.”

“The baby kind of looks like her,” Dick said quietly to Tiger. “Well, as much as a newborn ever looks like anyone, I suppose.”

Tiger wordlessly adjusted the towel between Dick's shoulder and the baby. It was all a lot to take in, Dick understood, so he didn't press him for conversation. Bruce left in the car to meet with the commissioner.

“I will arrange a room for our guest,” Alfred said. “I could use some assistance reconstructing Master Bruce's cot, sirs, if you please.”

They followed him into the manor. Dick ended up watching from the rocking chair while Alfred and Tiger put the crib together in what had once been a nursery. It was weird to think about Bruce being a baby. He'd have to ask Alfred to break out the photos later.

The baby had fallen asleep in his arms as he rocked. It wasn't the first time he and Bruce had taken care of a baby, nor was it the first time they'd brought one home while they investigated the parents in some shape or form. He always got far too attached to them. Christ, he was only twenty-one. There was plenty of time to have a family of his own, provided he could stop getting almost killed for long enough to raise a kid.

His communicator came to life in his ear. “Talk to me.”

“It's Batman. I spoke with Gordon. He knows you have the baby and he's happy to keep it that way for now.”

“All right. Was that the reason you called?”

“No. I got my hands on Laila's police report and the GCPD's list of suspects. Red Robin also finished investigating the apartment.”

Dick rocked a little more as the baby squirmed in her sleep. “What'd he find?”

“Signs of a struggle,” Batman replied. “It seems she got home from the hospital and was attacked from there.”

“Who filed the missing person's report?”

“A neighbour heard the commotion and called the police. Considering the evidence, the investigating officers had a report filed. The neighbour remembers seeing the baby before the attack, but she was missing afterwards.”

“So our little guest could be the missing baby.”

“She could be. I have the others following what few leads we have. CCTV footage has confirmed Laila was near the area you found the baby within the last few days.”

“If it took this long for the baby to get dumped,” Dick said, “I'm worried about what that means for the mother.”

“I am, too,” Batman admitted, sounding far more Bruce-like than he normally did under the cowl. “How's your partner holding up?”

“He's helping Alf with the crib,” Dick replied. Tiger looked up and Dick mouthed Bruce's name to him. “I think he's all right. It's just been a weird day, you know?” Just then, the baby woke up and demanded she be acknowledged with an ear-splitting shriek. Dick laughed through the pain in his ears. “Oop. The little one's up.”

“I'll call you later with more news,” Batman promised before cutting the connection.

Dick got out of the chair when it became apparent rocking wasn't enough anymore and paced around the room, bouncing the baby on his shoulder. She stopped screaming, at least, but she was still a bit cranky and kept grumbling at him. She reminded him a bit of Damian, without the pretence of dignity.

Alfred and Tiger managed to put the crib back together, but there was no way the little one was sleeping right now until she calmed down a bit.

“Here, sir.” Alfred held out his hands. “There are snacks in the kitchen if you're hungry.”

Dick went to pass the baby to him, but she started wailing again. “Okay, apparently that's not happening.” He settled her back on his shoulder.

“She likes you,” Alfred said, amused. “I'll bring you something to eat.” He left the room.

Tiger rubbed the baby's back. “That didn't take long.”

“The Grayson charm does it again,” Dick said, grinning up at him. “Speaking of which, you're a Grayson now, too.”

“I won't try it tonight,” Tiger said, placing his free hand on the small of Dick's back; he'd been doing that a lot lately. Dick didn't mind. “We don't need another headache.”

“Just wait until I try to put her to bed. She's had a rough night. I don't think it's gonna happen.”

Tiger didn't quite frown, but the gaze he fixed on the baby was rather serious regardless. “What happens if the mother is dead?”

“I guess we try to find her family,” Dick replied.

“And if we can't?”

“That depends.” Dick kissed the top of the baby's head as she grumbled a little more. “Bruce has pumped a lot of money into the foster care system, but it never seems to be enough. I spent a little time in there after my parents died. It sucks. I won't put anyone through that if I can help it. And it'd probably be worse for her if her mother is who we think it is. It's not great for white kids as it is, but...”

“I see your point.”

“There is another option,” Dick said. “If we could get through all the legal mess that'd come with it.”

“Mm?”

“We could adopt her ourselves,” Dick suggested. “I mean, I wasn't exactly planning to have a kid at twenty-one, but if she needs a home...”

“It's an idea,” Tiger said carefully.

Dick tried to ignore the feeling of his heart falling into his stomach. “You don't like it.”

“I'm just not certain I would be a good parent,” Tiger murmured.

“Who is?” Dick replied. “No one's going to be perfect. It's a learning curve for all of us. And if we did decide to do this, we'd have help. Alfred's raised babies before. Most of the family has experience dealing with their basic needs. And as for actually raising a kid, Alfred's done that, too. And Bruce is learning to be a father to Damian right as we speak. The baby'll have half a dozen aunts and uncles ready to protect her from anything that could come her way.”

“You want this,” Tiger said, stroking his husband's back.

“I do,” Dick admitted, “but I would never force you into it. We could help find her a home with someone else. Someone we decide is trustworthy.” It stung a little to think about. Dick had already gotten attached to this kid and he'd barely known her a few hours. He had to keep reminding himself there was still a chance her mother would turn up okay. Or they'd be able to find relatives to take the baby in if she wasn't.

“I'll think about your idea,” Tiger said. “I don't know yet.”

“No pressure, T. This is all a contingency plan if we can't find Laila or her family anyway.”

“Hm.” Tiger kissed the baby's head before moving to Dick's lips. “We'll see.”

The baby refused to let Dick put her down all night. He walked up and down the hallway with her, which helped her fall into a doze that she would immediately wake from if he stopped moving. As fit as he was, he could only walk for so long before his legs turned to jelly. He tried returning to the rocking chair, which worked almost as well.

That's where Bruce found him. Dick had just sent Tiger off to bed; at least one of them deserved to get some sleep tonight.

“Fussy?” Bruce asked. His hair was still mussed from the cowl, even though he was back in civvies.

“Very,” Dick replied. “She's not a happy baby.”

“I can't blame her.” Bruce held out his hands. “May I?”

“We can try.” Dick adjusted her sleeping body. “She might protest.”

“You need rest.”

“So do you.”

“I can get someone else to take over later.”

Dick lifted the baby and Bruce took her. They swapped places, Bruce settling into a rocking rhythm. The baby stirred, but didn't wake. Dick breathed a sigh of relief and sat on the floor.

“How'd the investigation go?”

“All the leads not involving Laila being the mother turned up empty,” Bruce replied. “I'm ninety percent sure she's the mother. I interrogated the suspects while the others searched for her. I've narrowed down the baby's father to a handful of men. The GCPD has brought them in to submit to a paternity test.”

“The father's not going to get custody, is he?” Dick would probably break something.

“We'll make sure he doesn't. This will simply prove who committed the original crime and give us a strong suspect for the kidnapping.”

“So we're bringing the baby in?”

“Just for the test,” Bruce assured him. “You and Tiger will be responsible for the baby during that time, since you're the ones Gordon agreed to watch her in the first place.”

“We can do that.”

“If you go to bed, sure.”

“All right. Hint taken. Goodnight, B.”

“Goodnight, Dick.”

* * *

Dick woke the next morning to an empty bed, which wasn't out of the ordinary. The sun was well and truly up so Tiger would have finished his prayers. He found him in the nursery, rocking in the chair with the baby in his arms.

“Look at that,” Dick said warmly, leaning against the doorframe. “You're a natural.”

“I'm panicking on the inside,” Tiger admitted. “She's so... _tiny_.”

“Yeah, babies usually are.”

“She's especially tiny.”

“She's very young,” Dick replied. “She probably should've been in the hospital longer than she was, but knowing what her mother went through, I can't really blame her for wanting out of there as quickly as possible. Have you fed the baby?”

“Yes.”

“Burped her?”

“Yes.”

“Did she vomit this time?”

“No.”

“We'll have to be careful in case she's a ticking time bomb.”

Tiger snorted. “My job, I guess. I don't have an American driver's licence yet.”

“Bruce filled you in?”

Tiger nodded. “You need breakfast first. We're expected in an hour, so don't be long.”

Dick walked into the room to kiss his husband before he headed down to the kitchen for a few pieces of toast and a coffee. He and Tiger had the baby packed into one of Bruce's less ostentatious cars shortly thereafter. Alfred was coming with them, for which Dick was grateful. Despite having experience dealing with babies in the short term, his knowledge still paled in comparison. It'd be good for Tiger, too, having him there.

At least, with Alfred driving, Tiger wasn't stuck watching over the time bomb baby by himself. She did end up puking all over herself, so they had to change her clothes in the police station bathroom.

“Hey, Commissioner,” Dick said when they finally got to his office. “Sorry we're late. There was an incident.”

“I heard,” Commissioner Gordon replied. “This your husband?”

“Yeah. He prefers to go by Tiger. Long story.”

Gordon shrugged. “As long as he doesn't start mauling people, he can call himself whatever he likes. My people have the DNA samples from the suspects already. We just need a few swabs from the baby.”

“Good luck,” Dick said, as the baby wriggled in his arms. “She's in a mood.” She squealed, as if she'd heard what he said. “Oh, here we go. Come on, sweetie. You're in public.”

“Don't encourage her,” said Tiger. An officer came to bring them in for testing. The baby just kept squirming whenever someone came near her with a swab and she screeched when someone else tried to hold her.

“She doesn't like strangers,” Dick said. “I'll try to calm her down. Hang on.” He bounced her a few times, mumbling nonsense into her ear until she went still enough to get the swab in her mouth. She resumed her screeching right afterwards, so they didn't linger any longer than necessary. Dick and Tiger walked around the block with her until she'd quieted down just enough to not blow off their eardrums in the car. Dick's temples were already pounding. He didn't exactly blame her for being loud, considering everything was weird and her mother was still nowhere to be found.

The drive seemed to calm her and, apparently exhausted after her ordeal, she fell asleep. Dick and Tiger both dozed a little on either side of her. The three of them woke as Alfred parked the car, and the little one was none too happy about that. Alfred took her to let Dick and Tiger get a few more minutes of sleep upstairs.

When Dick woke, Tiger was pressed against his back, still out like a light. He could hear the baby crying again and tried to wriggle out of Tiger's grip, which tightened the more he tried. When he physically lifted Tiger's arm off him, he woke.

“Let someone else do it,” he said sleepily.

“What if she doesn't calm down? Maybe she wants me.”

“They will come get us.” Tiger, missing most of his motor skills from sleep, tried to pat Dick's face and barely managed to tap his nose instead. “Sleep.”

The knock came on the door a few minutes later and Tiger grudgingly let Dick go. Oddly enough, it was Jason holding the baby on the other side of the door.

“She doesn't like me,” Jason said over her wailing. Dick lifted her from his arms.

“Don't take it personally,” he said. “She does this a lot. What's up, bubby? Why'd you hurt Uncle Jay's feelings?”

“Seriously, Dick?” Jason threw up his hands. “That's it. I'm out.”

“Don't get weird, Jay,” Dick called after him. “Was it the baby talk or the Uncle Jay thing?”

Jason kept walking. He'd come back. He always did.

A kiss on his neck told him Tiger was up. “Hey, T.” He bounced the baby, but she wasn't showing any signs of calming down. “Could you check with Alfred the last time she ate? Maybe she's hungry.”

For once, it was that simple. She was, in fact, crying because she was hungry. A little milk came up during the burping, but it wasn't the fountain of gross it had been previously. Despite everything, Dick felt fairly optimistic about the future for the baby. If the worst came to pass and her mother was dead, at least there was a chance she'd find a home here. Tiger had warmed up to her immensely, so Dick felt good about his chances of convincing him to adopt her.

* * *

Batman and co. couldn't find a single sign of Laila until the paternity test revealed the father's identity. Dick watched the interview from the batcomputer through a camera Batman had installed years ago, cradling a sleeping baby in his arms. Tiger leaned against the back of his chair.

“You're in a bad situation,” Gordon said, his voice tinny through the slightly poor connection. It was sufficient for Batman's purposes, so he'd never bothered to fix it. “We've got you for rape. You're our prime suspect in the disappearance of the woman you assaulted. If you cooperate, things will be much easier for you.”

The man on the other side of the table was skinny, his face covered in several days' growth of facial hair and the hair on the top of his head was stringy and unwashed. Even without knowing what he'd done, the man just had that aura of creepy around him.

“I ain't got no clue what you're talking about,” said the man, right before Batman appeared behind him without his knowledge.

“You're a bad liar, Wilkinson,” he growled. Wilkinson shrieked and fell out of his chair. “Talk.”

“Okay, okay!” No one was bothering to help him up, so he just lay on the floor. “She didn't tell me she had a kid, okay? I found out. I just wanted to talk to her.”

“Lying again?” said Commissioner Gordon. “That's a shame. My friend here really doesn't like it when people lie.”

“She fought back,” Wilkinson said desperately. “I didn't have a choice. I took her and the baby. I just wanted what was mine, okay?”

“Neither of them are yours,” Dick muttered at the screen. Tiger squeezed his shoulder.

“She hadn't even named the kid! She didn't even want it.”

“Where is she?” Batman growled.

“I don't—argh!”

Batman pressed his boot harder onto Wilkinson's hand. “Lie to me again and I start breaking bones.”

“It's not my fault!” Wilkinson screamed. “She tried to escape! She got away and hid the baby somewhere.”

“Like a dumpster,” Tiger said.

“She was desperate,” Dick replied.

“WHERE IS SHE?” Batman roared.

“I-in the sewers somewhere. I don't know. Probably washed out to sea by—OWWWWWWW!”

Batman stepped off him. “Be grateful it wasn't your dominant hand.” He pressed his ear. “Batman to all points. I need the sewers searched for Laila's body.”

Dick switched on the comm receiver in time to hear his family's responses.

“She's dead, then?” came Red Robin's voice.

“Of course she's dead,” Robin snapped.

“Cool it,” said Spoiler.

“That lowlife did it, then?” said the Red Hood with a soft click of his guns in the background. “No chance I could have a few minutes with him?”

“No,” Batman said patiently.

“We'll find her,” Batgirl promised. “Black Bat and I are already near the bay. We'll handle that end.”

“Expect the Coast Guard to join you shortly,” Batman said. “Everyone else, find a sewer entrance. No complaining.”

Dick switched off the comm and the video. He didn't need to know anything else.

“The odds weren't good from the beginning,” he said quietly, cuddling the baby closer to his body.

“Batman let me into the system to research her,” Tiger replied. “She came to America last year. No family.”

“So we're all her daughter's got.” Dick watched the baby's face, twitching a little in sleep but otherwise peaceful. “We should see if we can get some photos of her mother. So she can look at them when she's older.”

“I have collected what I could find,” Tiger said, kneeling beside the seat to stroke the top of the baby's bald little head. “I thought about your suggestion. That we adopt her.”

Dick watched Tiger touching the little girl so gently. He'd seen Tiger snap bone with his bare hands before. He'd watched him struggle to rein that violence in so they could be together. And here was on the other side of all that, touching the most fragile of creatures in the utmost tenderness.

“What'd you decide?” Dick asked him, trying not to hope in case he was wrong but unable to stop himself from imagining the future. Would they buy their own house or stay here? If they did buy their own house, would it be in Gotham or elsewhere? Where would their little girl go to school? What kind of friends would she make?

“We should do it,” Tiger said, reaching up to kiss Dick. “The baby still has no name.”

“I have an idea,” Dick replied. He'd been thinking about it for a while, even as he tried not to in case things turned out differently.

“What is it?”

“Laila. After her mother.”

“I like it.” Tiger kissed him again. “Laila it is.”

It seemed wrong that their joy had to come at such a terrible cost, but Dick made a promise right there to always watch over their Laila, to protect her in the way they couldn't do for her mother. She would never want for anything and they would fight their hardest to keep her from suffering the way the people around her had suffered.

Batman's voice came over the comm. “Shall I get Alfred to draw up the paperwork?”

“Go for it,” Dick replied. “Our family just got a little bigger.”

A funny little noise carried over the comm, a short laugh that was rarely heard from the man while that cowl was over his face. “She'll be the best-protected little girl in the country.”

“Of course she will,” Dick said. “She's got Batman for a grandad.”

Tiger snorted beside him.

Bruce's voice came out a little strangled. “I'll... see you later.”

“'Love you, too, Dad,” Dick said, just before Batman cut the link.

The night was fairly subdued. Barbara and Cass found Laila's body in the bay and fished her out for a proper burial. Jason was still fuming and elected not to come home in case he upset the baby. Dick talked with him a bit over the comm, which seemed to help him a little. He promised to show up for breakfast.

Damian came home and, after a thorough shower, sat with Dick as he rocked Laila in the chair upstairs. Tiger slept, ready to take over the shift when Dick needed to rest. Tim, Cass and Steph joined Damian and Dick for a while. Steph fell asleep on top of both Cass and Tim and they had to carry her off to bed. Bruce came in for long enough to kiss Laila goodnight before turning in.

Damian fell asleep on an enormous plush rabbit Alfred had bought out of storage. That was when Barbara finally arrived.

“Hey, Barb,” Dick said quietly. He was ready to doze off, but he wanted to hold Laila for a little longer before giving Tiger a turn.

“Hey.” Barbara lingered in the doorway, shifting from foot to foot in an uncharacteristic display of awkwardness. “So. You're gonna be a dad.”

“Yeah.” Dick laughed a little. “I didn't think I was ready yet, but I was wrong.”

“Glad to hear it. Time you grew up a little.”

Dick snorted. “Only a little.”

“So you're gonna be the fun dad?”

“And leave Tiger to be the bossy dad?” Dick had to stifle his laughter before it got too loud. “He can't even say no to _me_. How's he meant to say no to his own kid?”

“I say no to you all the time,” Tiger said, appearing at Barbara's shoulder.

“Right before you say yes, sure.”

“Jason wasn't kidding when he said the two of you made him want to puke rainbows,” said Barbara. “Anyway, I wanted to say good luck with everything. And congratulations.”

“Thanks for helping out tonight,” Dick said. “And for being so nice about everything.”

“I'm always nice.”

“...if you say so.”

“I do say so. Anyway, I better go. Bye, Dick. Bye, Tiger.” She leaned forward and waved to the sleeping baby. “Bye, Laila.”

Tiger shifted to let her pass before stepping further into the room. “You should rest.”

“I've got a few more minutes left in me,” Dick replied. Tiger lifted Laila from him and Dick obediently gave up his seat.

“You'll need those few minutes to get to bed,” Tiger insisted. “Go. I'll join you later. Alfred promised to take her in the morning. If you're up to it, I have a few things in mind...”

Dick smiled through the heat in his cheeks. “All right. You've convinced me. Love you. See you in the morning.”

“I love you, too.”


	6. Day 6: Anniversary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick almost forgot their first anniversary. Tiger, fortunately, did not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, I fell behind. Oh, well. I did take on quite a bit of a challenge, considering I was filling most of the prompts for two different ships. I've got one more to do for each, so I'm nearly there.

Dick and Tiger's first year of marriage passed almost without acknowledgement, as caught up as they were in raising their surprise daughter. Laila wasn't quite up to the full crawl yet, but she was using her forearms to drag herself around on her tummy.

“Look at our little commando go,” Dick said, reclining on the floor against Tiger, who had his back to the couch. They'd only just moved into their new apartment on the outskirts of Gotham, primarily motivated by Laila's sudden aspirations to become a famous explorer. Alfred had baby-proofed the manor best he could, but it still wasn't entirely safe and was never going to be. A little two-bedroom apartment was a far easier task. They still visited the family several times a week, sometimes sleeping over if they were particularly tired.

“How young is too young for her first assault rifle?” Tiger replied. Dick elbowed him.

“Bruce will throw a fit if we even get her a water gun.”

“I know. I was joking. Or trying to.”

“It was a good effort.” Dick grinned at Laila as she started to commando-crawl towards him. “Hey, bubby! Are you coming to say hi to your daddies?”

Laila got close enough to grab onto his pant leg, and she did. Tiger said something to her in Pashto. Dick was picking up bits of the language here and there, but not enough to really understand Tiger when he spoke it. Well, there were a few things he said often during sex that Dick had been able to identify after a while, but that was the exception to the rule.

Laila clawed her way along Dick's leg until she could climb into his lap. Dick wrapped his arms around her, which earned him a delighted squeal.

Tiger kissed his temple. “Our anniversary is tomorrow,” he said.

Dick froze. “Wait. _No_. Really?”

“Yes.”

“Shi...vers.” He was trying not to swear in front of his daughter; he wasn't always successful. “Already?”

“Yes, already.”

“We didn't plan anything.” How could he have forgotten? Their first anniversary and he was already dropping the ball.

“Alfred is taking Laila for the day,” Tiger told him. “Beyond that, no plans.” He brushed his lips against the shell of Dick's ear. “But I have a few ideas,” he whispered.

Dick shivered. “Not in front of the kid, T. No need to scar her for life this young.”

Tiger's laughter was deep in his ear. Laila squealed out a laugh of her own. She had been a little fussy as a newborn, often screaming the house down if someone wasn't holding her, but somewhere around the time she'd started to learn how to lift her heard without support, she had changed. She was still loud as ever, but her squealing was usually happy these days. Dick's frequent headaches from the noise were easier to deal with when he wasn't scrambling to figure out what was upsetting her.

Tiger reached around Dick to gently pinch Laila's cheek. “There will be plenty of time for that, I suppose,” he said quietly. Neither he nor Dick were looking forward to Laila being old enough to understand what happened to her mother.

“We'll deal with it when we get there,” Dick replied. Tiger pressed his cheek against Dick's and they watched Laila try to reach for her plush bunny rabbit. She almost toppled out of Dick's lap, but he caught her and grabbed the rabbit for her. She chewed on one of its ears.

“At least she's not biting my fingers this time,” Tiger said.

“She's teething, T. We just have to go with it. And maybe get some new toys because she's already chewed through half of them.” Dick brushed his fingers along Laila's baby hair. “She's been pretty good, though. Alfred warned me some teething babies have a really hard time.”

Tiger reached for the little plastic box they were keeping her more chewable toys in. “She likes the teething ring.” He picked it up and Laila made grabby hands towards it, dropping the bunny. Tiger settled it in her hands.

“It's always helpful when she likes the things that are supposed to help her.”

“She likes you,” Tiger said warmly.

“And you,” Dick added. “She's got good taste. I like you, too.”

“Good.” Tiger squeezed Dick's waist and tipped him back for a kiss. Laila thumped her teething ring against Dick's chest, squealing to regain their attention. They broke away from each other, laughing.

* * *

Dick woke the next morning to the sound of his daughter squealing next to his ear. Dick reached out, eyes still closed, and tickled her tummy, earning more squealing. The bed dipped beside him and Dick opened his eyes to find Tiger sitting beside him with a tray of food.

“Breakfast in bed?” Dick dragged his pillow into a more comfortable position for sitting. “You're spoiling me.”

Tiger played the tray in Dick's lap. “I am. Now eat.”

Dick cut up his pancakes. “Laila's looking clean. And unusually well-dressed.”

“I fed and bathed her already,” Tiger replied, stealing a sip of orange juice. “Alfred will arrive shortly.”

Dick poked Laila's leg. “Has Bruce seen these bat leggings yet?” They were black with yellow bat symbols on them. Dick and Tiger had unwittingly bought the same thing at different times, so she had several pairs of them.

“Not yet. I suppose he will today.”

Dick snorted. “Oh, I wish I could see his face.”

Tiger straightened Laila's yellow cardigan. “We could ask Alfred to take a picture.”

“Perfect.” Dick ate his pancakes while Laila crawled around the bed, Tiger nudging her away from the edges every so often. “We have a very fashionable baby.”

“And very active,” Tiger said, catching Laila before she toppled off the bed. “This is your fault.”

Dick shrugged. “Probably.” He fed Tiger a forkful of pancake. “If she calls me 'idiot' instead of 'dada', I'm blaming that on you.”

“That's fair.”

Tiger took the tray away as soon as Dick finished eating. Dick lifted Laila into his arms and climbed out of bed, trying to throw on his bathrobe while holding the very squirmy baby. He heard the intercom buzz by the front door and hurried out to answer it.

“Pizza delivery?” Dick said.

“Hardly, sir.”

“Oh, well. You're just as good, Alf. Come on up.” Dick buzzed him in.

Tiger brought Laila's baby bag. “I packed her teething ring.”

“Good idea.” Dick hitched Laila higher up on his hip and opened the door to Alfred's knocking. Laila squealed before Dick could get a word in and flailed in Alfred's direction until he passed her to him.

“Hello, Miss Laila,” Alfred said.

“Hey, Alf,” said Dick. “Thanks for taking her today.”

“It was my pleasure, sir.”

Tiger passed Alfred the bag. “She has a teething ring. I disinfected it few minutes ago.”

“Very good, sir.” Alfred slung the bag over his shoulder.

“Promise me you'll take a picture when Bruce sees what she's wearing,” Dick said.

“That can be arranged, sir.” Alfred kissed Laila's cheek. “You two have a good day.”

“We will. Thank you.” Dick kissed Laila's chubby little knuckles. “We'll see you later, sweetie. Be a good girl, okay? Bye bye.” Dick waved at her and Laila waved back. Alfred walked back down the hallway with her.

Tiger closed the door and shoved his tongue in Dick's mouth, easing the bathrobe off his shoulders and starting on the shirt buttons. Dick's back hit the wall and he gasped as Tiger's hands pressed flat against the skin opening his shirt revealed.

“Been waiting for this?” Dick breathed as Tiger kissed down his jaw, neck, chest.

“Oh, yes,” Tiger said against his stomach. “Shower. Now.”

Dick pulled Tiger to his feet. “That's not what I expected.”

Tiger dragged Dick through their bedroom and into the en suite. “It's efficient.”

“We get dirty and clean at the same time?”

Tiger sighed. “Get in the shower.”

Dick threw his shirt at him. “Last one in's a rotten egg.”

* * *

They in bed together for a while afterwards. Dick, breathless, couldn't stop grinning.

“Remember the last time we could do this without getting interrupted?” he said to Tiger, whose head lay on his thigh.

“That was our wedding night,” Tiger replied, pressing his lips against Dick's skin. “After which your family insisted we return with them to Gotham City and live in your father's house, where we had already learned the hard way the walls were not as thick as we thought.”

Dick snorted. “And then we found a baby in a dumpster and haven't gotten a moment's peace since. Not that it happened often before that.”

“I do enjoy watching you hold her,” Tiger replied.

“Can't blame you. She's almost as cute as I am.”

“If you say so.” Tiger sat up. “Get dressed. We're going to lunch after prayers.”

Dick cleaned up in the bathroom first, laughing a little at the pointlessness of their earlier shower, and threw some clothes on that didn't look too dirty. At least Laila wasn't throwing up as often as she used to. In those days, trying to find clothes without milk stains on them was a nigh impossible task despite Alfred's best efforts to help them.

He took his time getting ready so Tiger wouldn't feel rushed, finishing up a few neglected household chores to eat up some time. He'd replaced the bedsheets and washed the dishes by the time Tiger was ready to leave.

Tiger grabbed the keys out of Dick's hand. “I'll drive.”

“You literally just got your license.” Dick made to snatch the keys back, but Tiger held them above his head. “Oh, come on.”

Tiger grinned sharply, and Dick was suddenly reminded he was actually quite a dangerous human being. “You can drive home. Our destination is a surprise.”

“Fine.” Dick opened their front door and they stepped out. “But if we die on the roads, it's all on you.”

“I will accept that responsibility.” Tiger led Dick down the stairs to the ground floor and out to their car. Bruce had bought it for them, but he'd had no concept of what a subtle car was supposed to cost, so Dick ended up picking the car out for them. Bruce considered a damn BMW to be subtle. Dick and Tiger went for something reliable but cheaper, and less likely to get jacked without the protection of a mansion's underground garage.

“We're not going somewhere nearby, are we?” asked Dick as he strapped himself into the passenger seat. “You know I don't like telegraphing where we live.”

“I know,” Tiger replied, starting the car. “It should take us ten minutes in decent traffic.”

That was far enough. Dick relaxed and let Tiger drive. He wasn't actually a bad driver; Dick just got more nervous about cars and such ever since Laila came into their lives. To be honest, it was the other drivers on the road that worried him more. Tiger wasn't yet used to dealing with Gotham traffic. Dick knew from experience that even being used to the traffic sometimes didn't help.

Regardless of his misgivings, they reached their destination in one piece and Tiger even managed to find a parking spot out the front of a strip of shops and cafes.

Tiger pointed one out to Dick. “That one. Alfred recommended it. There is a small problem.”

“Lay it on me.”

“Jason works there.”

Dick rolled his eyes. “He's going to mock us mercilessly, you know that, right?”

Tiger shrugged. “Alfred said the food is worth it.”

“All right.” Dick opened his door. “Let's do this.”

It was just their luck that Jason was taking orders at the register. He started a little at their presence before painting on a grin.

“Well, happy freaking anniversary,” he said. “What can I get you?”

“That's more polite than I expected,” Dick replied. “That wrap looks cool. I'll go with that. And an apple juice.”

Jason snorted, plugging Dick's order into the cash register. “Laila's broken your tastebuds. Okay, Tig, what about you?”

Tiger raised his eyebrow at the nickname, but let it go. “I'll have the same.”

“So married,” Jason muttered, pressing a few more buttons. “All right. Now give me your money. Then I give you a number and then we're free from pretending we like each other.”

“I like you,” Dick said, handing over the cash.

“Cute,” Jason said, and passed him their number. “Sit on the terrace out back. Nice view. Very romantic.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

They did go out on the terrace, finding Jason hadn't actually been joking. They found a table for two squeezed into the corner by the wrought iron balustrade, looking out into a park they'd taken Laila a few times.

“He's not so bad,” Dick said. “A little prickly, but that's how he deals with emotions. Kind of like Bruce sometimes.”

“I like him,” Tiger said.

“Yeah, and he's been good with Laila ever since he got over being afraid to go near her.” Dick poured himself a glass of water from the jug on the table. “Honestly, I trust him with her more than I'd trust most people. I don't know how we're gonna cope with kindergarten.”

“We have years to prepare for that,” Tiger replied. The server brought their juices.

Dick took a sip. “True. We'll need all that time to research. Bruce has probably started already. Gotham's not the best place to raise a kid. Where we are is better than deeper into the city, at least.”

“I've seen worse,” Tiger replied.

“You've been to war zones, T.”

The server brought their wraps and took the number away. Dick spotted some ducks in the park pond. Laila had nearly gone running in the water to chase after them once.

“We should start taking Laila to swimming lessons,” Dick said. Tiger followed his line of sight.

“Ah. Yes. We should.”

“There's a community pool nearby, isn't there? They probably do lessons.”

“Probably.” Tiger bit off a mouthful of his wrap. “Now eat. We can look into that later.”

Dick started eating. Jason found them a few bites in.

“Hey. I got shunted off to server duty. So I'm meant to pretend I care when I ask if everything's okay with your meal.”

“You're a sweetheart,” Dick replied. “Everything's good. Tastes great.”

“That's because I spat in it.”

Dick snorted. “Don't you have work to do?”

“Fine. I'll leave you two alone. No sex on the table, 'kay?”

“No promises.”

* * *

Dick and Tiger took a walk through the park after lunch.

“Bruce wanted to throw a big party for us,” Dick said, swinging Tiger's hand because he could.

“That's nice of him.” Tiger hadn't grumbled once about the hand-swinging. He used to make token complaints about that kind of affection, especially when in public, but the frequency of his complaining had dropped dramatically since they'd gotten married.

“Not really. Wayne parties _suck_. Great for gossip, bad for literally everything else. Unless you're dating someone who doesn't mind doing it in a cleaning closet. As long as none of the kids see you sneak off. Then Alfred lectures you for being a bad role model.”

“So he did us a favour by not following through.”

“Big time.”

They encountered a thick row of overgrowing bushes. Dick had no more than a moment's notice before Tiger grinned and shoved him into them, pinning Dick on his back in the stick-riddled grass.

Dick wriggled beneath him. “The hell is this?”

“Being a bad role model.” And Tiger kissed him.

“Oh, you're so on.” Dick shoved Tiger over and climbed on top of him. “If anyone catches us here, I'm blaming you.”

“You normally do.”

Dick slid his cold fingers under Tiger's shirt, laughing as he flinched. “You normally deserve it.”

Tiger dragged Dick down by the front of his shirt to mash their lips together. Dick pressed against him, lazily kissing him until Tiger grew impatient and rolled them back over. Dick's foot got tangled in the bush, but he didn't have a chance to think much about it now that Tiger's tongue was in his mouth. Tiger's fingers slipped below the waistband of Dick's jeans, earning a moan muffled into their kiss.

This was such a ridiculous place for a makeout session, but that just made it even more fun. Well, until they felt water on their skin and looked up to the sky.

Dick squinted against the raindrops falling on his face. “I guess we'll have to take a _rain_ check, huh?”

Tiger sighed at him. “Not necessarily. We have time.” He still had his hand down Dick's pants.

“Oh? What'd you have in mind?”

Tiger opened Dick's zipper with his free hand. “Is that a real question?”

Dick snorted. “Oh, fine. Blow me.”

Tiger rolled his eyes. “If you insist.”

Dick was already hard. Of course he was. Tiger's lips closed around the head of his cock and he forgot how to breathe. The grass was useless as a handhold, so Dick gripped handfuls of Tiger's hair as his husband took the rest of his length.

Raindrops fell into Dick's mouth the instant he opened it. He probably should have thanked the sky for the reminder they were in a public place. Tiger bobbed his head, his tongue doing things that definitely should've been illegal. Dick's breath hissed out through his teeth. The rain pattered harder from the sky.

“T,” Dick said. “Hon. Get up here.”

Tiger lifted his head. “Why?”

Dick dragged him closer. “Because I feel bad letting you do all the work down there while I get to sit back and enjoy it.”

“Right.” Tiger unzipped his pants, settling himself between Dick's legs. His cock was thick and heavy with arousal. Dick was already sensitive, so the brush of contact between their cocks made him twitch. Tiger wrapped his hand around the both of them and Dick reached down to help. He liked this better, if only because it meant he could kiss Tiger at the same time. The feeling of closeness that came with having his husband lying against him was nothing to sneeze at, either. Having him as a makeshift shield against the rain was an accidental bonus.

Tiger bit and sucked a hickey into Dick's neck as they moved. Dick bit back a groan, scrambling for purchase on Tiger's rain-spotted back with his free hand. He couldn't last, shuddering out his orgasm into a spare napkin while Tiger nibbled on his earlobe. Tiger took longer, jerking himself harder and rougher than he ever did to Dick until he finally came into the napkin Dick held for him.

Dick laughed, shoving the soiled napkins in his pocket. “Well, that was romantic.”

Tiger chuckled a little bit, tucking himself back in as the rain pelted down harder than ever. “We should go.” He helped Dick up and they raced from the park, utterly soaked long before they reached the car. They fell into their seats and turned the heat up as high as it would go.

“Let's not do that again,” Dick said as Tiger reversed the car out of its parking spot. “I think I'm more of an indoor sex kinda guy. Was there meant to be rain today?”

“No,” Tiger replied.

“Should we write a letter to the meteorologists?”

“And tell them we had sex in the rain because their prediction was inaccurate?”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Come on. It'd be hilarious.”

Tiger smiled out the window. “If you say so.”

“You're smiling because I'm right.”

“I'm smiling because you are ridiculous.”

“Well, you're not wrong.”

It was still bucketing down by the time they got home, racing through the rain to the doors. They dripped water through the already slippery hallways and staircases until they reached their apartment, shivering from the cold. They made a beeline for the bathroom and peeled off their soaked clothing; a hot shower would warm them up quickly, and their earlier shower had ultimately been pointless anyway. Dick's jeans had contracted around his legs and he nearly fell over trying to get them off.

Tiger, already naked, caught him and set him back on his feet. “Ridiculous.”

Dick sat on the toilet lid to pull his jeans off. “I think we've established that already.”

“It bears repeating.” Tiger reached into the shower and turned on the water. He was covered in goosebumps, the fuzz on his skin standing on end. Dick thought it was adorable.

“Hey, Tig.”

“I hate that nickname.”

“You hate all your nicknames.” Dick kicked off his underwear. “But listen. It's very important.”

Tiger raised an eyebrow at him. “Yes?”

“You're cute.”

Tiger snorted. “Okay.”

“Very cute.”

Tiger pulled him to his feet. “Fine. I'm cute. Get in the shower.”

“You first.”

Tiger rolled his eyes and stepped into the shower, leading Dick in after him. “Must you be so difficult?”

“Yes, actually.”

“That was a bad question,” Tiger admitted, shoving Dick under the water. “Now get warm. Your shivering is annoying me.”

Dick tugged Tiger under the spray with him. “I knew you cared.”

Tiger kissed Dick's nose. “I can't stop.”

“Aw, you big softy. Come here.” Dick wrapped his arms around Tiger's waist and rested his head on his slippery shoulder.

Tiger reached for the shampoo on the top of the shower and massaged it into Dick's hair. “Are you happy with today? I know lunch wasn't special, but—”

“It was perfect, Tiger,” Dick said quietly, closing his eyes. “We don't have to do massive romantic gestures all the time. Getting to spend time with you is enough for me. Besides...” He leaned back into the shower spray so Tiger could wash the shampoo out of his hair. “...we've got plenty of time to get fancy. Years, if I have anything to say about it.”

“I'll protect us,” Tiger said. “Conditioner?”

“Sure,” Dick replied to his question, shifting away from the water. “But I don't want you throwing yourself in front of a bullet for me. Laila's lost enough parents as it is.”

Tiger combed his conditioner-covered fingers through Dick's hair. “I will only do it if necessary. That's all I can promise.”

“That's all I can promise, too.”

Neither of them patrolled much these days. The risk of one widowing the other, or potentially orphaning Laila, was far too great. They helped run mission control fairly often and joined the fray when backup was needed. The whole family had agreed to keep them out of the fight whenever possible.

Dick and Tiger swapped places to wash Tiger's hair. Dick kissed him while he leaned forward to lather the shampoo for him.

“Do you ever think about what our lives would be like if we hadn't met the way we did?” Dick asked, massaging right into Tiger's scalp.

“I try not to.”

“Yeah, that's probably for the best.” Dick gently pushed Tiger under the water to wash out the shampoo. “Bruce would've still gone after Spyral, and there's a chance we would've had to fight each other.”

Tiger frowned, grabbing the conditioner bottle so he could look at it instead of Dick. “That's why I try not to think about it.”

Dick grabbed the bottle out of his hands. “Let's be honest, though.” He smeared conditioner through Tiger's hair. “I would've kicked your ass.”

Tiger tried to hold onto his frown, but his lips turned up a little at the corners and Dick knew he'd successfully saved his mood. They swapped places so Dick could wash out his conditioner, Tiger holding tightly onto his waist.

“I'm glad we met when we did,” Tiger said softly. “You... I mean, I...” He trailed off. He was a lot better at expressing his feelings these days than he used to be, but he still struggled sometimes.

“I love you, too,” Dick replied.

“That's not what I... I mean, yes, I do love you, but...” Tiger laughed a little, shaking his head. “I don't know why this is so hard to say.”

Dick ran his fingers through his own hair a few times to make sure the conditioner was gone. “I believe in you.”

“Thanks,” Tiger said dryly. They swapped around so he could wash out his conditioner, too, keeping his arms wrapped firmly around Dick's waist. “What I'm trying to say is, being here, with you... I'm happy. You make me happy.”

“I'm glad.” Dick massaged the conditioner out of Tiger's hair, kissing his cheek. “You make me happy, too.”

Tiger shook his head, smiling a little sheepishly. “I disgust myself sometimes.”

“You're cute when you're self-conscious. I mean, you're always cute, but it's a different kind of cute.”

Tiger hid his face over Dick's shoulder. “You're embarrassing me.”

“You do a pretty good job of that by yourself,” Dick teased, rubbing his back.

“It's usually your fault.”

“Point taken. You're still cute, though.”

“You've said so many times today.”

“Because it bears repeating.” Dick breathed out a contented sigh, leaning his head against Tiger's. “Let's just stay in tonight. A home-cooked meal and an eternity of cuddling sounds perfect right about now.”

“I bought some ingredients for mantu last night,” Tiger replied. “You can do dessert. I hear ice cream can be hard to remove from the container.”

Dick chuckled at that. “Still spoiling me, I see.”

“You deserve it.”

“Aww.”

“Don't tell anyone. I have a reputation to keep.”

“Your reputation flew out the window a long time ago, hon.”

“Let me pretend.”

“If it helps you sleep at night, sure.”

They stepped out of the shower and into comfortable sweats shortly afterwards. They lay under the bedcovers for a while, listening to the beginnings of a storm joining the rain.

“Remember the weather this time last year?” Dick said, jumping a little at some surprise thunder. “It was like forty degrees warmer, or something ridiculous like that.”

“We were in Nevada,” Tiger replied. “Gotham is always covered in clouds.”

“It does get hot here sometimes, just not this year, apparently. Coldest summer I can remember. Maybe I should call Bruce up and make sure Freeze isn't up to his old tricks.”

“At least Laila is in a safe place if he is,” Tiger replied.

“We should call. She probably misses us.”

Tiger kissed his forehead. “Later.”

“All right,” Dick conceded. He cuddled against Tiger's chest. They were both warm now, and it left them feeling soft and gooey. Part of that was probably each other's influence, of course. Tiger drew lazy shapes on Dick's back with his fingers while Dick ran his palm across the side of Tiger's chest his head hadn't claimed.

“I'll buy you flowers next year,” Tiger said. “And maybe chocolate.”

“Well, traditions are traditions for a reason. Remind me to step up my game.” Dick tugged the covers higher. “Maybe I'll get you one of those dorky Valentines teddy bears. Or I could just save that for the next Valentines Day. We should start a collection. Give Laila something to be embarrassed about when she's older.”

“Whatever you like,” Tiger said warmly.

“You're humouring me.”

Tiger snorted. “Dick, I'm always humouring you.”

“Oh, how _humorous_ of you.”

“That was not a good joke.”

“Some jokes aren't meant to be good, T. That was one of them.”

“Does believing that make you feel better?”

“What exactly are you insinuating about my sense of humour?”

“What do you think I'm insinuating?”

Dick poked him. “Ass.”

Tiger smirked. “Well, yes, you do have a great ass, but—”

“This is the worst conversation we've ever had.”

“And I haven't even called you an idiot yet.”

Dick smiled fondly up at him. He was glad they hadn't lost their banter after a year of marriage, plus another year of dating on top of that. Dick liked trading good-natured barbs with the people he loved. Tiger hadn't been particularly chatty at first, but Dick had learned how to work with it and, over time, Tiger had come out of his shell. A shell that had apparently been hiding his ridiculous sense of humour and a terribly gooey centre.

“Never change, Tig,” Dick said, reaching up for a kiss.

“You call me that just to be annoying, don't you?”

“Yep.” Dick pecked a second kiss onto Tiger's lips.

“Heh.” Tiger cupped the back of Dick's head, reeling him in for more. “Never change, Dick.”

“Never,” Dick agreed, draping himself over his husband's warm body.

The storm raged on and off into the night, Dick and Tiger still cozy inside the apartment they shared. Dick almost laughed out loud at how awfully domestic they had become, but he loved it all the same. Watching Tiger be so relaxed, so free with his affection, made him want to explode with joy. They were in a good place. There was always a chance that could change, but for they were were going to cherish what they had, and work their hardest to keep it that way.

Dick was a father and a husband, and he was happy.


End file.
